Was just looking for something completely unrelated to Lotus 19s, when I came across the following info and photos of the Matich 19 and 19B, which talks about the origin of each car and is written by a former mechanic of Matich's:

Innes Ireland raced the Rosebud 19 in the 1962 professional West Coast races, with a 2-liter Climax.

Innes raced the Ferrari V12 car, notably at the 1964 LA Times and Pacific GP's. I have plenty of photos of this car there, and will try scanning them. Looks like the wheelbase was lenghtened to fit the Italian brick. The car was slow and went nowhere according to the record. The other Team Rosebud car, the Brabham-BRM BT8 2-liter, won its class at the Pacific GP driven by Trevor Taylor.Regards,

Hi guys, I'm new here but i have some info on the 19B that dan owned. it was painted dark blue like the f1 eagle, had a modified sloped nose, and a rear spoiler with a small oil cooler in it. also the roll bar was lower on the passager side than the driver side. the gear shift was on the right side of the driver not in the center. during tire testing at riverside joe lenard put it on its head in the esses. pete wilconson did the repairs and it was sold to a guy named steve diullo who ran it in cal club, scca. he sold it to a lawyer named dick calluet. i drove the car in 1968 and won the so cal regional championship. dick decided he wanted to drive it himself and bent it up badly at el toro. i lost track of it after that. when i drove it we had a traco chevie and the exceleration would just pin you in the seat and breaking would lift you right out of the seat. if you just frowned at it the tail end was gone. i have some pictures if someone could tell me how to load them up if anyone is interested.

I think you are referring to what was called at the time the Lotus 19J/Ford, in which Gurney and Jerry Grant played Ford rabbit a number of times during the Ferrari/Ford wars. I have a picture somewhere of Steve Diulo, owner later on, in that 19 being very much out of control at Laguna Seca.

Regarding the Frank Matich car, There is no evidense of there being a Aluminium body fitted to this car. The orig Aluminium body is still with Chassis 950 which is here in the UK. Does any one know the date when Matich bought the car?.
Kelvin Jones

I was crew(gofer) on the ex-Gurney 19 for a few races when Steve Diulo owned it in 1965. It resurfaced in the late '70s owned by one Wayne Linden in So Cal. I was then the scrutineer for VARA and was able to i.d. it for him.
Wayne restored it to it's Ford powered 19G(for Gurney) configuration and sold it to Gordon Gimble whose wife has run it numerous times at the Monterey Historics.
Anton

Originally posted by Ray Bell John Ellacott saw my earlier post yesterday and rang me, he's organising those pictures for posting and I'd say (seeing as he was there when the car first arrived...) he can give us a closer date.

The Lotus 19 as it arrived - complete with soft top

First tryout at Warwick Farm

Matich ready to test the car for the first time

Matich at speed between the Western Crossing and Homestead Corner - probably during 1962

JohnHas the colour degraded on the "at speed" shot?Or don't I know what I'm talking about?The only time I saw the car was when FM took it to NZ Dec 63/Jan 64 - I'm sure it was then light blue rather than BRP green (which it appears to be in your 1962 pic) - with a secondary colour which my fading memory can't recall. The Tasman Brabham was the same (though it was later in the same colours as the Lotus in your bottom picture)

What great photos of the Matich car. If you are right about this car arriving in 61 that means there was 4 cars, because the other three cars were still running in the UK and The USA.
Looking at the condition of the car when it arrived, could this car have been a "Bitza".

Originally posted by David McKinney JohnHas the colour degraded on the "at speed" shot?Or don't I know what I'm talking about?The only time I saw the car was when FM took it to NZ Dec 63/Jan 64 - I'm sure it was then light blue rather than BRP green (which it appears to be in your 1962 pic) - with a secondary colour which my fading memory can't recall. The Tasman Brabham was the same (though it was later in the same colours as the Lotus in your bottom picture)

David

I don't think you are having a senior moment at all! If you go to the link I posted to Brian Darby's site, he states in two places that the rebuilt 19B was originally painted powder blue. So I guess it must have gained the predominantly white livery at some point after Dec 63/Jan 64...

John

Love the photos - do you have any idea of the date of that first run?

Kelvin

Am I missing something here because I haven't seen anyone suggesting that Matich took delivery of his car in 1961, so I think you may be mistaken about there being four cars. I am sure Doug has already said that it was one of the BRP cars that was sold to Matich.

I think Ray Bell said he first saw the car in Oct 62 and that he *thought* Matich had owned it for about a year but that may not be correct, for example he could have taken delivery in early 1962...

I know I didn't frame my question very well
What I meant was:
We know the car raced in BRP/UDT colours in the Northern Hemisphere
It still seemed to be in this livery when it arrived in Australia
It was powder blue when I saw it race a bit later
Did it race with light green bodywork in Australia (as it appears in John's "at speed" photo)?

I've noticed in many Lotus 19's that I've seen in the flesh and those in various photos from around the world a seeming difference in chassis construction. I'm refering to what appears to be a visible frame rail(or perhaps more likely, some manner of aluminium extrusion)at the bottom of the aluminium panel which covers the chassis between front and rear wheels. On some others, the aluminium panel appears to tuck under smoothly with a curvature at its lower extremity and no rail is visible. What accounts for this difference? John Ellacott's posted photos above of the Matich car are an example of the version with rail.

As I remember from an early description of the car, those are either brake lines or oil lines. Gurney deemed the location too vulnerable and mounted them inboard on the Arciero 19.

As for the Matich car, based on the color and the high windshield, it seems to be one of the BRP cars last raced in the UK, since their US entries featured a low windshield. With 952 going to Rosebud and 953 being raced by Gregory in the US as late as October 1962 with a low windshield, it seems to me that the Matich car has to be the 950 prototype.

But does it still feature the aluminum body or had it been replaced by then.

Wino, Regarding Gregory driving 953 do you know what races etc as this is my car?

Michael, I have a artical about Matich and it ststes that his first race was at Catalina parkon the 21 Jan 1962 It broke its crank after 3 laps of practice. Moss seen the car shortly after at Warwick farm he then blew the whistle on the UDT machanics for sending out such a car, where obviously all the good parts had been kept in the UK. Even the body not the same and the the fit was very poor, which you can see in the phots.Therfore at Stirlings instigation UDT refunded a very large proportion of the price paid for the 19. The car was bought using finance from United Dominion Corperation in Sydney an off shot of UDT UK. In 1962 all three UDT cars were converted to center lock wire wheels and cutaway rear arches.
All the best Kelvin.

I thought we had pretty much agreed that 953 was the last Lotus 19 kept by BRP to August 63 then sold to Pendleton (Sept/Oct 63) then Pitt and O'Brien then Kelvin. Without detailed checking, my impression is that in 1962 BRP only ever entered a single car at a meeting which suggests that 950 and 952 were sold at the end of 1961? If Doug Nye is still following this thread maybe he would go back to Tony Robinson and see if he can remember.
RAP

Doug Nye was of the opinion that the tartan on the BRP cars was in honour of UDT Chairman Bob Gibson-Jarvie and Barrie Boor concluded it was the Gibson tartan. If I knew how to post their quotes I would.

When you've found the post you wish to quote, just click on the 'quote' button at the top of the post:

Originally posted by Doug Nye As for the tartan on the UDT-Laystall cars I think it was in honour of UDT Chairman Bob Gibson-Jarvie, but I'm nae sure from which clan yon Gibson-Jarvies drew their tartan. Other possibility, since Pa Moss was a partner in the team would be from his wife Aileen, Stirl's mum, who was another good Scot, but I doubt it. I must confess, I've never asked...

DCN

Originally posted by Barry Boor Thanks again, Doug. Checking a website of tartans and searching for the name Gibson brought up a tartan that looks quite like what I saw (and photographed) on a Lotus 18 at Coy's a few years ago.

Just to put John's great pictures on this page too... save people backtracking...

The Lotus 19 as it arrived - complete with soft top

First tryout at Warwick Farm

Matich ready to test the car for the first time

Matich at speed between the Western Crossing and Homestead Corner - probably during 1962

[SIZE=1]By 1965 it was a totally different car

Let's hope he gets a chance to post the one of Matich at Catalina racing with that tall screen!

Originally posted by David McKinney John
Has the colour degraded on the "at speed" shot?
Or don't I know what I'm talking about?
The only time I saw the car was when FM took it to NZ Dec 63/Jan 64 - I'm sure it was then light blue rather than BRP green (which it appears to be in your 1962 pic) - with a secondary colour which my fading memory can't recall. The Tasman Brabham was the same (though it was later in the same colours as the Lotus in your bottom picture)

No, David, the Team Total Lotus 19 always raced in the green (UDT) colour, but with Total tricolours in appropriate places from the time Team Total was formed.

When the 19 was crashed, the subsequent 19B was a powder blue with the Total identification on it. Please note that the change to white with the tricolour stripes, as in the lower photo, only took place over the Christmas-New Year break of 1964/65... that is, the car only appeared in these colours from late January (if then?) 1965 until its demise in June 1965.

As Matich concentrated on his Brabham during much of this time (Tasman Cup races...) it only ever appeared in these colours about four or five times, IIRC.

So, now as we sort this all out... UDT ran all three of their cars for the last time in May, 1961. All three cars had their rear wheel arches cut out (as on the Matich car) in 1962, however, by which time Matich had his car.

After all, he had to get it transported here, and he tested it (as in John's photos...) before racing at the end of January or early February at Catalina, so it must have left England in 1961. With the cutaway wheel arches...